Two Suggestions to Fishlake NF Regarding
Aspen and Reference Areas
September, 2005
- The upcoming Monroe Mountain aspen restoration project. The Three Forests Coalition, like most people and the Forest Service, is interested in effecting aspen restoration. We believe that the Forest does not appreciate the distinct and cumulative roles played by ungulate (sheep, cattle, elk, deer) browsing in indirectly facilitating the invasion of aspen clones by conifers, as well as directly suppressing recruitment of young ramets into a mixed-level overstory. We also are aware that aspen clones are sometimes eliminated by fire; that leaving downed logs on the ground can provide "safe harbor" from browsing for young aspen ramets; that protection of ramets from ungulate browsing dramatically supports aspen recruitment; and that old aspen snags are extremely important for cavity-nesting birds.
The Three Forest Coalition would like to collaborate on approaching Monroe Mountain aspen restoration as a multi-faceted "experiment," with multiple treatments, controls, and reference areas. This is a good opportunity for collaboration, as multiple stakeholders (local residents, the Forest, the Three Forests Coalition, UDWR, regional and national scientists) favor aspen restoration, there is a wealth of scientific research that can be brought to bear on the questions involved, it is a place-based NEPA decision, and there is opportunity to learn together from an experimental approach to Monroe Mountain aspen restoration. - Identification and establishment of reference areas on the Dixie and Fishlake National Forest for all major vegetation types. Reference areas are essential for understanding such things as the consequences of various activities and management within the various vegetation types (major habitats) of the Forests, the potential for recovery of damaged sites, the roles being played by drought or climate change as distinct from local Forest activities, and invasive species spread in the presence or absence of particular activities.
A reference areas collaborative process could be positively used to identify and establish current and future reference areas within the Dixie and Fishlake National Forest While all areas on the Forest (and even in adjacent National Parks) have been historically impacted and are being impacted (e.g., by drought), there are some sites that for years have been largely free of commercial logging; oil, gas, or mining extraction; livestock grazing; off-road vehicles; roads; water diversions; or other developments. In April 2005, at a meeting of the Three Forests Coalition with Fishlake National Forest, Dixie National Forest Vegetation Planner Mark Loewen provided an excellent list of such areas on the Dixie and Fishlake National Forest. This list could serve beginning discussions in a reference areas collaboration.
An extraordinary amount of on-ground, shared learning would be involved in establishing reference areas.